My Blog Buddy

Sujin

Here is my blog buddy, Sujin. She comes from South Korea and will be studying in Graphic Design degree course next year.


In the coming days, we will keep checking the progress of our blogs and give comments to each other. I will check Sujin's blog at least 3 days a week. We will keep our blogs update.

Inspiration of Individual Project (1)

As I am going to design a series of accessories for visually impaired, I would like to find the inspiration from the current products.

This post is going to mark down the current products I find are interesting and useful for my project.

[1]

1. Smartwatch

It is a smartwatch designed by a Korean firm for people who cannot see. There is a display made up by a series of dots where the users can feel the rising and falling dots spell out words in Braille. Besides the use of telling time, it can also be used for reading books and long message, and directions as it can be connected to maps.

There are some feedbacks from a user who love gadgets and is visually impaired. She said

It is hard to read anything longer than a text on the Dots. Nonetheless, she thinks that the users, who are visually impaired, will struggle to use the watch for directions. They would use a dog or a cane which takes up one hand already, however, it has to be two free hands for holding the watch in place and touching the Dots.

I find it is useful for my project as checking time is something we do every day, if I can design a watch for visually impaired people, then they can check the time easily on their own. In addition, the design of a smart watch is vital to the users, such as texture and

The following smartwatch is designed by Hyungsoo Kim in 2013.

[3]

Side ball bearing indicates the hour and front ball bearing indicates minutes. Users can check the time by touching the balls and the marks. The major marks are even designed a bit differently to distinguish with minor marks.

I appreciate the simple design which makes it easy to clean, as they have to touch it for checking time, so it might get dirty easily. However, I think it is better to check the time by touching braille display. With Braille display, visually impaired people can know the time directly.

Source:

[1] - BBC Article Smartwatch Blind People

[2] - DESIGN INDABA Braille Smart Watch

[3] - GZMODO Stylish Watch Let Blind People Feel Better

Research for Individual Project

In order to know more about vision impairment, I would like to start with defining "visual impairment".



Source 1

Then I have jotted some key points of this article.

Before reading this article, I thought visually impairment means someone who cannot see anything from any distance, but people who haven't lost their sight completely are actually also included.

As I have to create some products which make their daily lives more convenient, I have to know more about braille language.

I took a bit time to figure out how to read the braille numbers. I found that they would put "#" in front of the number when it is applied on lift buttons. However, I am not sure whether it is the same in other situation. I am going to do more researches on Braille language, especially numbers. As I am going to design products like wallets and watches, so it is compulsory to know the Braille numbers.




Source 1:  http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/visual-impairment.html?WT.ac=p-ra

Website

I am creating a website to show off my major project. The following pictures are showing the progress I have made so far.

Before

After

I have changed the font and the background of the homepage to see how does it look like with different colour and font of the words. I want to show my own style and image in this website. This is not the final design, I might change the background picture to my own work. 

biography

Apart from that, I briefly talk about myself in the biography. This is not the final version, and I will definitely improve it later on. I am going to read more samples for reference.

Indivual project



At the beginning, I drew a mind map to brainstorm some ideas on my individual project. It must be something related to my future study, Product Design. 

Video [1]

One of the major reasons I want to design products for impaired is I watched this video a year ago. She is a product design student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The project she was doing is very impressive. As I always want to create something to make the life convenient and more interesting, and she even cares about different groups of people, not only for the majority. She designed a wallet for visually impaired people to identify banknotes.

Video [2]

Therefore, I wanted to design some products for impaired, especially for vision impairment, I wish I can make a wallet even better or convenient from hers. However, I had no idea of how can my project be related to digital arts.

Then, I talked to my teachers, and they gave me some directions and suggestions. They told me that it is not necessary to be 10 different products, but they can be the same products with different colours. As I am going to make a series of products for visually impaired, I may create 4-5 products with at least 2 different materials. They all are accessories, such as wallet and bag.

In this week, I am going to search more information about vision impairment and accessory designers for inspirations and reference. 

Sources:

Video [1]: Afternoon Market about Mosi Mosi

Video [2]: Mosi Mosi invisible Wallet

Both of them have English subtitle.

Reflection on Advertisement Project

Reflection after doing this project:

It is our first time using Photoshop, I found it is hard to make it look as good as the professional one. We did our best to make it more realistic by softening the outline of the white area. This project provides me a great chance to work with Photoshop, and know a bit more about it. Photoshop is still fresh and new to me, in order to get more familiar with Photoshop, I need to watch some videos on YouTube, and to self-learn how to function the Photoshop and other software, such as Adobe Illustration. It is compulsory for me to learn these computer skills as I have to use them in my future study or even my job. To be well-prepared for the further study, I better learn how to use the digital drawing tablet and software by practicing more.

After doing the presentation, I think there are three major things I have to improve:

1. Photoshop skill

The edges of the model and the white area are not natural and realistic at all. Some of my classmates said it has a clear message, though the Photoshop is not good enough. It is vital to have a strong theme and message behind the work, however, how do you present the theme or message is also important. It is necessary to do more practice and watch more tutorial lessons about Photoshop and other software.

2. Presentation skill

Regarding the comments from my classmates, many of them have mentioned that our presentation is quite poor. The main reason is I did not prepare well for the presentation. However, I need to have good presentation skills to introduce my products to others in the future. I should not read from the notes I have written, and not to speak in one tone. I can do some rehearsals in advance of presenting to others, so it would be better.

Advertisement Project

Idea 1

This is our first idea- Taking a picture with an advertising light box in a bus stop. The advertisement on the lightbox is about Dulux. Our model, Jaewan Kim, will hold a painter and a Dulux paint box standing next to it. The advertisement is actually painted by him, which represent Dulux paint is user-friendly, easy to paint. However, the message is not obvious enough, readers might not understand our meaning.

idea 2

Then, we have searched some Dulux advertisements, and find out its themes including eco-friendly, natural colour and less harm to human. We picked "less harm" as our main theme. In order to show our message, we would like to take a picture of Kim is sleeping in his room, which is still not yet finished painting. It means even the painting is not yet done, customers still can stay inside the room. Nevertheless, we think this is too mainstream and we want to do something showing our own style.

idea 3

Finally, we decided to find a grassland picture as a background and our model Kim will be holding a painter like he is painting something. The reason we pick grassland is it represents environmentally friendly, which is something we want the readers can associate with Dulux in thinking. Besides that, we will use Photoshop to edit the picture like Kim is painting the grass on the ground, to show the 'grassland' is actually painted by him. It brings out the message of Dulux paint colour is very natural, which is very close to the actual colour. Also, Dulux paint is user-friendly, customers can pick up easily.

The following pictures are showing the process of creating our advertisement.

Cameraperson: Janis Chan (left) Model: Jaewan Kim (right)

One of the pictures I took

Grassland - The picture we found on the internet

I was trying to find the best angle to take the picture which can perfectly match with the picture we found on the internet. 

Furthermore, we use Photoshop to cut and paste the Dulux paint box and our model into the picture. white brush is used in the picture, we blur the outline so as to make it look more natural.

The final product

Finally, we put a Dulux logo and its link on the left top of the picture in order not to catch too much attention of the readers from our main theme. A slogan is put onto the right bottom, and the size of the words is bigger so it can clearly explain our message.

The following advertisements of Dulux are found in Google search:

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Comparing to the above advertisements, there are few parts we are the same, or similar with. For the structure of an advertisement, we also put the logos and the picture of Dulux box on the corner. Besides the structures are similar, they usually tell readers the message with a text written in the middle. The main character is always placed in the centre, which can easily catch the eye contact. One slightly different part is- our advertisement is monotonous, mainly green colour. In the contrast, Dulux advertisements are usually more colourful.

Sources of pictures:

     - Picture 1

     - Picture 2

     - Picture 3

     - Picture 4

Photographer - Duane Michals

[1]

Duane Michals is an American photographer, was born on 18 February in 1932. He invents narratives within a series. His sequential images often accompanied with handwritten texts. His handwritten prose is usually poetic, tragic, humorous. Apart from that, his cinema's frame-by-frame format is very well known too. His works found on Google search are all in black and white.

Apart from his remarkable style, there are even some famous artists such as Andy Warhol, Rene Magritte and Marcel Duchamp have involved in his work. Michals' first solo exhibition was held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York (1970). 

[2]

After reading his biography and some of his works, I found the above sequential image [2] "Chance Meeting" touches my heart the most. Sometimes people pass through their opportunities or chances unconsciously. It can be a chance of meeting an old friend or an opportunity of getting a job- We meet the chance, but we missed it.

Information sources:

http://www.dcmooregallery.com/artists/duane-michals

http://www.artnet.com/artists/duane-michals/

http://projects.newyorker.com/portfolio/michals-empty-ny/

Photos sources:

[1] Google search- McKeesport-photographer-Duane-Michals.jpg

[2] Google search- dmis020.jpg

Sequence 2 - Water Pollution

Water Pollution- Janis and Santiago

The sequence of these 12 pictures shows the water is getting dirty, and it even turns to black at the end. Literally, the contamination of water reflects human beings are destroying the environment.

At the beginning, we want to make a sequential images of a social issue, such as discrimination, global warming, equality, teens pressure and pollutions. Then we think that problem of water pollution ususally neglected by the public.

There are a number of social issues and environmantal problems we are facing nowadays. The message behind this image is "Be green, be environmentally-friendly." It is a win-win situation- Once we be good to the environment, we can get benefits from it too.

Camera we used: IPad Pro

App for Editing photos: PhotoGrid, VSCO

Sequence 1 - Pencil Case




"Pencil Case"- Janis Chan and Santiago Barreto

These sequential images show the movement of three pens- They are climbing back into pencil case on themselves and the pencil case is closed automatically. It shows the life of those stationaries.

My group mate, Santiago, and I were trying to make something fun and intriguing, the idea popped out immediately is the pens moving, just like they live as we all do.

I was the camera person of these pictures. I tried to hold in one position, and Santiago was moving the pens and pencil case. Afterwards, we used PhotoGrid to make its layout. The reason we do not put them horizontally is we think it is too mainstream, so we tried to make it different. Then, we used VSCO to change its colour to a vintage style in order to get the attention.

Camera we used: IPhone 6 


I think it can show the clear movement and sequence of those objects by posting 8 pictures- it would not be too much or too less. Readers can see how the stationeries move,  

Introduction Of Myself



Welcome to my blog!

This is Janis from De Montfort University. I am studying foundation course of Art and Design, and I will be studying BA Product Design next year.

I am going to post my artworks here in the coming year. Please leave a comment as you want, I really appreciate that.